Don’t get lost in translation
We all know that words are important. Someone insults you, it hurts. You might worry about it, feel “down.” They praise you, you feel uplifted. These are the personal issues; but there are much larger implications in play.
You know words are important when you realize there are entire law firms who lobby to make sure that legislation and regulations do not contain language that allows citizens to get a bite on the behavior of government or corporations, or conversely, that there is language that impairs the capacity of other government agencies, or the public, to intervene in the intended outcome of that regulation.
Provincial, federal and municipal civil servants and corporations spend millions of dollars to craft documents and statements that control the message citizens are intended to get.
This mass campaign is designed to buffer elected decision makers and the civil service from public scrutiny and investigation. They’ve generated an entire language of bureaucratic code, almost all of it intended to do three things; control public perception and understanding, limit public reaction, and prevent public involvement in “their” business.
Part of their strategy is to set trap doors for citizens and activists that believe, as many people thankfully do, that citizen scrutiny is the only way to keep government honest, and that citizens have a constitutional right to be involved in government decision making.
These trap doors surround us like tax collectors circling around wage employees. Of course we depend upon an investigative, independent media for assistance.
Of particular interest to me are trap doors that litter the path to socially and scientifically sound conservation and management of water, air, forests, land and wildlife. Those trap doors are the language, and ideas and actions, behind governments and corporations engaged in directing consumption, largely by the private sector, of public resources.
”Don’t think of an elephant” is a book by linguist George Lakoff. He points out what makes language so significant; it embodies an idea and an agenda. He didn’t call bureaucratic or corporate code a trap door, but he cautions people that in today’s world there is far too often something hidden behind the language.
If you buy into government and corporate language you fall into a trap door from which you will not escape unless you take back the language that serves citizens and the public, something diametrically or subtly opposed to the establishment agenda.
Lakoff said if you have an idea, or evidence, and you want to make public that theme, you must frame your vision with your own language. If you let government or corporations control the language, you’ve already lost.
If you look you can see the code; hidden agendas are everywhere.
The timber industry and “our” Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, have coyly convinced us to talk about forests and living ecosystems as “timber.” While industry is sawing its way through living forests, we are told they are only “harvesting timber.”
In a world that promotes globalism and internationalism, when you see a “made in British Columbia” caribou conservation strategy, the red flag should signal you like it does an angry bull: “we intend to ignore conservation science and management regulatory measures known to be effective in other parts of the world” because they would interfere with the government-corporate consumption agenda. It’s the minister’s way of saying “we’ve got it under control, so no, we really don’t want to hear from you!”
Governments and corporations hate linkage because that means you’re smart enough to see through their language and tie it to their agenda.
The evidence is clear to some; our democracy and environment are under siege. I don’t see any way out other than getting involved and speaking out.
Take your values to heart when you deal with government and corporations; reframe the argument so it says what you mean. Use your language. Do your research and speak to your vision and values.
Dr. Brian L. Horejsi is a wildlife and forest ecologist. He writes about environmental affairs, public resource management and governance and their entrenched legal and s ocial bias.